Network using encoded transmissions and forwarding

ABSTRACT

A first network node may include a wireless transmitter, a wireless receiver, a user interface and a controller. The controller may be configured to cause information that is received by the receiver to be delivered to the user interface, if that information is encoded to be delivered to the user interface of the network node. The controller may also be configured to cause information to be transmitted in a format encoded for a first target node by the transmitter, if that information is encoded to be forwarded by the network node. The controller may also be configured to cause information from the user interface to be transmitted in a format encoded for a second target node by the transmitter. Related processes are also disclosed.

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/754,246, filed on Jan. 9, 2004 and titled NETWORK USINGENCODED TRANSMISSIONS AND FORWARDING, and this application is herebyexpressly incorporated by reference.

FIELD

This disclosure generally relates to communication systems, includingnetwork communication systems, wireless communication systems, cellularcommunication systems and ultra wide band communication systems.

BACKGROUND

A wide variety of communications takes place over a network. Many ofthese take place without connecting wires, such as in cellularcommunication systems.

It is often desirable to operate the transmitters in a wirelesscommunication system at very low power. This may reduce the drain on thepower supply, which may be a battery with a limited life. Lowering thetransmission power level may also help reduce interference betweenmultiple transmitters operating at the same time in nearby locations.

Unfortunately, transmitting at low power can often times have adrawback—it may be difficult to receive the transmitted signal overgreat distances.

Cellular networks often address this issue by installing base stationsat numerous, strategic locations. These base stations may receivetransmissions from local cell phones or other nodes and forward thesetransmissions to more distant locations.

Unfortunately, it can be costly to install and maintain base stations atall of the strategic locations at which they may be needed. Thelocations at which base stations are needed, moreover, may not always beknown, due to the mobile nature of a cell phone. This can make fullcoverage even more difficult.

Ultra Wide Band (UWB) is a new technology that may allow numeroustransmitters to operate at the same time and in the same band, withoutinterfering with one another or with existing communications systemsalso operating within the same band. Many radio frequency (“RF”)technologies use a carrier modulated only within a relatively narrowband to transmit information. UWB, on the other hand, sends pulses ofenergy across a broad spectrum of frequencies. Using this widebandtechnique, a UWB signal can be successfully transmitted at such a lowpower level that it can often exist in the same band as more narrow bandRF technologies without significantly interfering with those narrow bandtransmissions.

Unfortunately, the transmission distance of UWB is also limited,particularly when the power level of the signal is low.

SUMMARY

A network node may include a wireless transmitter, a wireless receiver,a user interface and a controller. The controller may be configured tocause information that is received by the receiver to be delivered tothe user interface, if that information is encoded to be delivered tothe user interface of the network node. The controller may also beconfigured to cause information that is received by the receiver to betransmitted in a format encoded for a first target node by thetransmitter, if that information is encoded to be forwarded by thenetwork node. The controller may be configured to cause information fromthe user interface to be transmitted in a format encoded for a secondtarget node by the transmitter.

A process of operating a network node may include receiving informationat the network node. The received information may be delivered to a userinterface in the network node when the information is encoded to bedelivered to the user interface of the network node. The receivedinformation may be transmitted in a format encoded for a first targetnode when the information is encoded to be forwarded by the networknode. Information from the user interface may be transmitted in a formatencoded for a second target node.

It is understood that other embodiments will become readily apparent tothose skilled in the art from the following detailed description,wherein various embodiments are shown and described by way ofillustration only. As will be realized, the concepts are capable ofother and different embodiments and their several details are capable ofmodification in various other respects, all without departing from thespirit and scope of what is claimed as the invention. Accordingly, thedrawings and detailed description are to be regarded as illustrative innature and not as restrictive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Aspects are illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation,in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a communication taking place over a portion of anetwork using encoded transmissions and forwarding.

FIG. 2 illustrates a communication taking place over a portion of anetwork using encoded transmissions and forwarding, including at leastone redundant transmission.

FIG. 3 illustrates primary and secondary links that have beenestablished in a portion of a network.

FIG. 4 illustrates how a node may create and maintain primary andsecondary links in a network.

FIG. 5 illustrates a process that a node in a network may follow toprocess received information.

FIG. 6 illustrates randomized time division duplexing of two nodes in anetwork.

FIG. 7 illustrates components of a transmission that may be made by anode in a network.

FIG. 8 illustrates components of a broadcast control message that may betransmitted by a node in a network.

FIG. 9 illustrates a node that may be used in a network.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appendeddrawings is intended as a description of various embodiments of theconcepts that are presented and is not intended to represent the onlyembodiments in which these concepts may be practiced. Each embodimentdescribed in this disclosure is provided merely as an example orillustration, and should not necessarily be construed as preferred oradvantageous over other embodiments. The detailed description includesspecific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understandingof the concepts that are presented. However, it will be apparent tothose skilled in the art that these concepts may be practiced withoutthese specific details. In some instances, well-known structures anddevices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring theconcepts. Acronyms and other descriptive terminology may be used merelyfor convenience and clarity and are not intended to limit the scope ofthe concepts that are disclosed.

In the following detailed description, various aspects may be describedin the context of a UWB and/or spread spectrum wireless communicationssystem. While these aspects may be well suited for use with thisapplication, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that theseinventive aspects are likewise applicable for use in various othercommunication environments. Accordingly, any reference to a UWB and/orspread spectrum communications system is intended only to illustrate theinventive aspects, with the understanding that such inventive aspectshave a wide range of applications.

FIG. 1 illustrates a communication taking place over a portion of anetwork using encoded transmissions and forwarding.

As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of nodes, illustrated by way of exampleas cell phones, form a network.

The network may be an ad hoc network. This is a network whose nodes arenot all the subject of careful planning and organization. Rather, theexistence and location of each node may be unplanned and, indeed, evenunforeseeable. One or more of the nodes may also be in motion at thetime of communication, such as a node that is being carried by anoperator on foot or in a vehicle, aircraft or ship. The node might evenbe carried by a vehicle, aircraft or ship without a human operator evenbeing present.

Each node in the network may be of any type. It may be a cell phone,PDA, laptop, a military communication device or any other type ofcommunication device. Cell phones are illustrated in FIG. 1 by merely asexamples.

Each node may have a user interface that communicates information to itsuser and receives information from its user. Each user interface mayinclude one or more input devices to receive information from the user,such as a keyboard, mouse, touch screen, microphone or camera. Each userinterface may also include one or more output devices to communicateinformation to the user, such as a display, loud speaker, or headset.The user may be a person, animal, system or device.

Each node may be wireless, meaning that it may transmit and receiveinformation from other nodes without interconnecting wires.

Each node may communicate with other nodes in the network without anytype of centralized base station.

To communicate with a node that might be beyond the reach of the signalthat is transmitted, the communication from the initiating node may beforwarded by one or more of the other nodes in the network to thedestination node.

This forwarding concept is illustrated in FIG. 1. Specifically,initiating node 101 is shown as being in communication with destinationnode 103 by having the information that node 101 seeks to communicate tonode 103 being forwarded, first by a node 105, then by a node 107, andfinally by a node 109. The communication from the node 103 back to thenode 101 may be forwarded along the same route, except in reverse order.The routing of this particular communication is illustrated in FIG. 1 asa solid line between the linked nodes.

Simultaneously, a node 111 may be in communication with a node 113 thatagain are too far apart for the communication to take place directly.Instead, the information from the node 111 may be forwarded by the node105 to a node 115, by the node 115 to a node 117, by the node 117 to anode 119, and finally by the node 119 to the node 113. Communicationsfrom the node 113 to the node 111 may be forwarded along the same route,except in reverse order. The routing of this particular communication isillustrated in FIG. 1 as a dashed line between the linked nodes.

To accomplish this routing, each node in the network may be configuredto receive information from other nodes. Each receiving node may befurther configured to deliver the received information to either theuser interface of the receiving node or to forward the information to astill further node by retransmitting it. In this way, one node is ableto communicate with a distant node by having its communication gothrough a series of “hops” through one more intervening nodes.

As should be apparent in connection with the multiple links shown to thenode 105, a single node can function as a forwarding node for messagesfrom several communications taking place at the same time.

As should also be apparent, this typology can extend the reach of eachnode in the network beyond its individual limit, without requiring anytype of centralized based station.

To minimize the traffic in the network and the associated problems thatsuch traffic can create, the information that is transmitted by eachnode may be in a format that is encoded for only one other node in thenetwork. The format of the encoding would insure that the transmittedinformation is only processed by the one other node in the network.

For example, the information transmitted by the node 101 may be encodedfor the node 105, which, in turn, may then process that information.Although the transmission from the node 101 might be strong enough toreach the nodes 111, 115 and 121, it would not processed by these othernodes because it is not transmitted in a format that is encoded forthese other nodes.

To facilitate this process, each node in the network may be configuredto process information that is encoded in a format that is differentfrom the format that each of the other nodes will process.

In FIG. 1, each node is illustrated as transmitting information inconnection with a communication to only a single node. Thus, thecommunication between nodes 101 and 103 is illustrated as being sent bynode 101 to only node 105, by node 105 to only node 107, by node 107 toonly node 109, and by node 109 to only node 103. Similarly, thecommunication between nodes 111 and 113 is illustrated as being sent bynode 111 to only node 105, by node 105 to only node 115, by node 115 toonly node 117, by node 117 to only node 119, and by node 119 to onlynode 113.

Forwarding communications through only single nodes can make each nodein the communication link critical to the success of the communication.Unfortunately, a link in the chain can be broken. For example, a mobilenode that is function as a link may move beyond the range of a node thatis linked to it.

The system shown in FIG. 2 helps address this potential problem. FIG. 2Illustrates a communication taking place over a portion of a networkusing encoded transmissions and forwarding, including at least oneredundant transmission. A communication is taking place between a node201 and a node 203. In this case, however, the node 201 encodes thecommunication for two separate neighbors, a node 205 and a node 207. Inturn, the node 205 encodes the information for forwarding to a node 209which forwards it to a node 211. Simultaneously, the node 207 encodesthe information for forwarding to the node 211. If a link with the node205, 207, 209 or 211 develops a problem, the communication will stillreach the node 211 because it is sent over two independent paths, thatis through the nodes 205 and 209 and separately through the node 207.

On the other hand, if the communications from both the nodes 207 and 209arrive at the node 211, the node 211 may be configured to understandthat it is receiving duplicates of the same communication, in which caseit may be configured to discard one of the communications and to forwardonly the other communication to the node 203. The same process may workin reverse in connection with information that is being communicatedfrom the node 203 to the node 201. In this case, however, it would bethe node 201 that may discard a redundant transmission.

The exact number of nodes to which a single communication may bedirected may be set as a fixed parameter in the network or may beallowed to vary based on the particular circumstances. When a multi-pathcommunication is desired, the transmitting node may encode and transmitthe information once in a format appropriate for the first receivingnode and again in a format appropriate for each of the other receivingnodes.

There are a broad variety of techniques that may be applied toeffectuate the encoding that has been discussed.

One technique is to assign the receiver in each node a specify frequencythat is different from the frequencies that are received by all othernodes. To transmit information encoded for a particular node in thisembodiment, the transmitting node would effectuate encoding by adjustingthe frequency of its transmitter to match the receiving frequency of theother particular node.

The receiver in each particular node may instead be configured to onlyprocess received information having a particular phase or to onlyprocess received information appearing within a particular time frame.In these embodiments, the transmitting node would again encode thesignal that it transmits to match.

A still further encoding approach may be assign each node a uniqueaddress and to package each communication with the address of the targetreceiving node.

A still further encoding approach is to use spread spectrum technology.In this embodiment, all of the nodes may transmit their information atthe same time and within the same frequency band, such as inapproximately a 650 MHz band that is being dedicated in the 6-7 GHzfrequency range in connection with a UWB system. Each transmission maybe encoded with the spreading sequence that corresponds to thedispreading sequence use by the target node.

Other encoding techniques may also be used, including a combination oftechniques.

Before communication takes place, it may be advantageous to establishlinks between neighboring nodes. It may also be advantageous to classifythese links, such as to create a primary and secondary class of links.

FIG. 3 illustrates primary and secondary links that have beenestablished in a portion of a network. The primary links are shown asdashed lines, such as dashed a dashed line 301. The secondary links areshown as dotted lines, such as a dotted line 303.

A primary link between nodes, such as the primary link 301, may bedefined in the network as a link between two nodes over which acommunication between the two nodes may take place. A secondary link,such as the secondary link 303, may be defined in the network as a linkbetween two nodes over which communication between the two nodes may nottake place. Although the secondary link may be defined as one that willnot carry communications, it may still function as standby link and bepromoted to a primary link in the event that a primary link becomeunavailable.

An illustrative process of establishing, utilizing and tearing downthese links will now be presented.

Each node in the network may be configured to repeatedly transmit apilot signal on a common channel that is received and processed by allof the nodes. If spread spectrum technology is used, all pilots from alltransmitting nodes may be spread with the same spreading sequence. Allreceiving nodes node may be configured to de-spread all received pilotsignals using this same common sequence.

FIG. 4 illustrates how this received information may be processed bynode in a network, along with other information.

The node may be in the receive mode, as reflected by a Receive block401.

The receiving node may detect whether a pilot signal is within thereceived information, as reflected by Detect Pilot? decision block 403.If a pilot is detected, the carrier-to-interference (“C/I”) ratio of thepilot may be compared against a threshold value, as reflected in a MeetThreshold? decision block 405. If the pilot meets the pre-determinedthreshold, this means that the link between the node transmitting thepilot and the node receiving the pilot is sufficiently strong to be aviable link. Of course, other signal strength parameters may also beevaluated in addition or instead.

As will be discussed below in mode detail, the transmitting node maytransmit information identifying the transmitting node, along with thepilot signal. If the pilot signal meets the threshold requirement, thereceiving node may next determine whether the link between thetransmitting node and the receiving node has already been registered, asreflected by a Previously Registered? decision block 407. If the linkhas been registered, the receiving node may not process the pilotinformation further.

If the link has not been registered, on the other hand, the receivingnode may next determine whether it should be designated a primary link,thus making it available for communication, or whether it should bedesignated a secondary link, and thus not be available forcommunication. This step is reflected in FIG. 4 by a Meet PrimaryCriteria? decision block 409.

A broad variety of criteria may be considered by a node in determiningwhether to designate a node as a primary node—thus making it availablefor handling communications—or a secondary node—thus leaving it as astandby link that may be promoted to a primary link in the event thatanother primary link becomes unavailable.

One criterion that the node may consider is the magnitude of the C/Iratio. The larger the ratio, the stronger the signal. Of course, othersignal strength parameters may be considered in addition or instead.When the signal is strong, power control circuitry may enable thetransmitting node to reduce the power of its transmission, thusminimizing the power that is needed for the transmission and theinterference that the transmission may cause to other signals.

Another criterion may be the angular orientation of the existing primarylinks with the angular orientation of the new link that is beingevaluated. A potential primary link at an orientation far from anyorientation that is being serviced by an existing primary link may bemore important than a potential primary link at an orientation that isvery similar to an orientation of an existing primary link.

Angular computations may be made using a variety of technologies. Forexample, each node may transmit its geographic location as determined bya GPS receiver in the node, by magnetic field measurements, by signaltriangulation or by any other technique. Angular calculations may thenbe made using simple geometry.

The anticipated stability of the link is another criterion that may beconsidered. A stable link may be viewed as being more valuable than anunstable link.

The relationship between the current number of primary nodes and adesired minimum number of primary nodes may also be considered.Similarly, a comparison of the current number of nodes with a maximumnumber of nodes may be considered. Fewer nodes may cause lessinterference and may better conserve energy. A larger number of nodes,on the other hand, may increase the stability of a communication,particularly when nodes are in motion. Three or four primary links pernode may also be set as an ideal target.

Once the decision is made as to whether to make the link a primary link,as reflected in the Meet Primary Criteria? decision block 409, theappropriate action is taken. If the decision is to make the link aprimary link, the link may be made a primary link and registered as suchin the node, as reflected by a Register as Primary block 411. If thedecision is made not to make the link a primary link, the link may beregistered as a secondary link in the node, as reflected by a Registeras Secondary block 413.

As previously indicated, each node may repeatedly issue pilot signals.If the received C/I ratio does not meet the pre-determined threshold, asdetermined during the Meet Threshold? determination block 405, thesignal may still be strong enough to allow the receiving node toidentify the transmitting node. If so, the receiving node may nextinvestigate whether the link with the node transmitting the weak pilotwas previously registered, as reflected by the Previously Registered?block 413. If the link was previously registered, the receiving node maynext determine whether the link had been registered as a primary link,as reflected by a Registered as Primary? decision block 415. If the weaklink was previously registered as a primary link, the receiving node maynext attempt to promote a previously-registered secondary link to a newprimary link, as reflected by a Promote Other Secondary to Primary block417. The registration of the link to the node with the weak pilot signalmay then be removed, as reflected by a Remove Registration block 419.

The registration of a link may also be removed if a pilot from thelinked node is not received after a pre-determined time. An appropriatesecondary link may then be promoted to a primary link.

By repeatedly following the process described above and illustrated inFIG. 4, each node will create and constantly maintain a set of primaryand secondary links, such as the primary and secondary links shown inFIG. 3.

FIG. 5 illustrates a process a node may follow in a network to processreceived information that is encoded. Encoded information is received bythe node, as reflected by a Receive block 501. This may be during thesame period that the node receives a pilot, as reflected by the Receiveblock 401 in FIG. 4. As will be discussed in more detail below, eachtransmitting node may transmit both pilot and information within thesame transmission period.

The receive node may next determine whether the received information isencoded for the receiving node, as reflected by an Encoded for Node?decision block 503. The exact approach taken by the receiving node formaking determination may depend upon the format of the encoding.

If the encoding is based on frequency, the receiving node may simplyexamine the received signal to determine whether information appears atthe receiving frequency of the receiving node. Appropriate filters aswell as other techniques may be used.

If the information is encoded by phase, a similar process andappropriate apparatus may be followed to determine whether theinformation is being delivered at the phase of the receiving node.

If the information has been encoded by time division, the receiving nodemay simply examine the received information within its time slot.

If the information has been encoded by an addressing technique, thereceiving node may examine the received information to see whether it ispackaged with the address of the receiving node.

If the information is encoded using spread spectrum technology, thereceiving node may de-spread the received signal using its unique spreadspectrum code. As is well known in the art, this will result in theoutput of the information that has been encoded if the codes match.

If another encoding technique is used, then another correspondinglyappropriate technique may used in the receiving node to determinewhether the received signal is encoded for the node, as reflected by theEncoded for Node? decision block 503.

If the information is encoded for the node, the receiving node mayprocess the information. It may next determine whether the informationshould be forwarded to another node or delivered to its user interface,as reflected by a Need to Forward? decision block 505. As discussedbelow in more detail, this determination may be based on instructionsthat accompany the information. It may also be based on other criteria.

If the information is determined to be information that should bedelivered to the user interface of the node, that information may bedelivered to the user interface of the node, as reflected by a Deliverto User Interface block 507. If the determination is made that theinformation should be forwarded, the information may be forwarded toanother node, as reflected by a Forward block 509.

A broad variety of approaches may be used in connection with theforwarding of information. As part of the process, the information maybe encoded for another specific node with which the forwarding node hasalready established a primary link. The forwarded information may alsobe packaged with instructions to the target node as to whether theinformation should be delivered to the user interface of the target nodeor again forwarded by the target node. Examples of more specific routingtechniques and procedures are discussed below.

As part of the forwarding process, the forwarded information may beplaced in a queue in the forwarding node. The information in the queuemay then be transmitted by the forwarding node in accordance with atransmission schedule.

In order for a transmission from a node to be successfully received, ofcourse, the transmitting node must transmit at a time when the receivingnode is receiving.

One approach for accomplishing this is to configure each node totransmit and receive at all times. Unfortunately, such “full duplex”operation can create problems, including the need for additionalbandwidth and overloading of the receiver by the transmitted signal.

Another approach is to transmit and receive at different times, which isknown as “half duplex” operation. In this mode of operation, however,there must be some way for the transmitting node to know when thereceiving node will be receiving so that the transmission will bereceived.

In some networks, a master controller provides information to aplurality of nodes about when they should transmit and/or receive, thusproviding the needed synchronization. In the embodiments shown in FIGS.1-3, however, there may not be any master controller. In theseembodiments, some other form of synchronization may be provided.

One such approach is to configure each node to constantly cycle betweentransmitting and receiving. Each node may further be configured to varythe length of each cycle, each cycle consisting of both a transmissionand a reception portion.

To facilitate synchronization, the length of each cycle may track apre-determined pattern of lengths that each node in the networkidentically follows. Each node in the network may further be configuredto be at a particular point in the pre-determined pattern that isdifferent at any one moment in time from the point in the pattern atwhich every other node is at. By following this approach, there mayalways be a particular point in time when a scheduled transmission of atransmitting node will coincide with the scheduled reception of a targetnode with which the transmitting node wishes to communicate over aprimary link.

These concepts are illustrated in FIG. 6. Specifically, FIG. 6illustrates the randomized time division duplexing of two nodes in anetwork. As shown in FIG. 6, a network node follows a Transmit/Receivepattern 601; while a second node follows a Transmit/Receive pattern 603.Each “T” in the figure represents transmission; while each “R”represents reception. Each pair of transmit and receive operations isreferred to as a cycle, denominated in the figure by a “C” followed by asubscript indicating the position of the cycle within the pre-determinedpattern of cycle lengths.

The pre-determined pattern of cycle lengths that is followed by both thefirst and second nodes may be identical. However, the second node mayalways at a point in the pattern that is different than the point of thenetwork node. Thus, when the network node begins its cycle C₁₂, thesecond node may already be in its cycle C₈₂, as illustrated in FIG. 6.

At some point during the pattern of cycles, the initiation of atransmission by the network node will be at a time when the second nodeis receiving. An example of this is shown in FIG. 6 at the point in time605. At this point in time, the second node is in the receiving portionof its cycle C₈₂, while the network node is just beginning to transmitin its cycle C₁₃. If the length of the information that needs to betransmitted from the network node will not exceed the duration of theremaining portion of the receive cycle C₈₂, the point in time 605 thenbecomes a point in time when the network node knows that it can transmitits information to the second node with confidence that the second nodewill receive all of it.

To accomplish this synchronization, the network node may need to knowthe relative offset of the second node in the pattern of cycle lengths.Since both nodes are following the identical pattern, the network nodecan then calculate the point in time when a scheduled transmission fromthe network node will be received by the second node. When transmissionof information from the first to the second node is desired, the networknode may then schedule the transmission of information for this slot.

Another factor that may be considered by the nodes is the ratio betweenthe transmission and reception time within each cycle. This ratio may befixed, as shown in FIG. 6, or may vary in accordance with networktraffic or other conditions.

Many different ways may be used to store the pattern of cycle durations.One approach may be for each node to use the same pseudo-random (“PN”)noise code and to have this code circulate in a set of shift registers.An offset position of each node within the pre-determined pattern may bedetermined by applying a hash function to an identification code in thenode that is unique for each node in the network.

There is a broad variety of information that may be transmitted by eachnode during the transmission portion of each cycle. FIG. 7 illustratescomponents of one such transmission that may be made by a node in anetwork. As shown in FIG. 7, the transmission may begin with a pilotsignal 701, followed by a broadcast control message 703, followed by oneor more instruction/data sets, such as instruction/data sets 705/709 and711/713.

The pilot signal 701 may be delivered in the beginning of eachtransmission cycle of each node for the purpose of establishing andmaintaining links between each node, as discussed above in connectionwith the discussion of FIG. 4.

Each pilot signal may be transmitted by each node on a common channel.The exact approach for accomplishing this, of course, may vary dependingupon the technique that has been selected for communicating informationbetween nodes.

If spread spectrum technology is used, each pilot may be spread with acommon code so that it may be received and processed by every other nodewithin transmission range. As explained above, one purpose of the pilotsignal may be to allow other nodes in close proximity to determinewhether a link with the transmitting node should be established (orremoved) and, if so, whether it should be made a primary link (ordowngraded to a secondary link). As also explained above, the strengthof the received C/I ratio may be used in this determination, as well asother criteria.

Like the pilot signal, the broadcast control message 703 may also besent over a common communication channel, such as a channel spread byeach node with the same code. As explained in more detail below, thebroadcast control message may enable other nodes to learn neededinformation about the transmitting node in order to establish (orchange) a communication link with that node.

One or more pairs of instructions/data sets may then follow, such as theinstruction/data set 705/709 and the instruction/data set 711/713. Eachdata segment may include information that is ultimately destined for auser interface, such as voice information, text information, videoinformation or some other type of information. Each instruction segmentmay instruct the receiving node as to how to handle its associated datasegment. For example, an instruction may indicate that the associateddata segment is to be delivered to the user interface of the receivingnode. Alternatively, an instruction may indicate that its associateddata segment should be forwarded to another node. In regards toforwarding, specific examples of routing techniques are discussed below.

FIG. 8 illustrates components of a broadcast control message that may betransmitted by a node in a network. As shown in FIG. 8, a broadcastcontrol message 801 may include a node ID 803, the node location 805, a“PN” sequence offset 807, a Receive-to-Transmit Ratio 809, a framenumber 811, as well as other information 813.

The node ID 803 may be an ID that is unique for each node in thenetwork.

The node location 805 may be information indicative of the location ofthe node. This information may be useful in determining whether areceiving node should establish a link with the transmitting node. Itmay also be useful in determining routing paths, as discussed in moredetail below.

The location of each node may be determined by any of a broad variety oftechniques. One such approach may include a GPS receiver in the nodeoperating in accordance with well known techniques.

The PN Sequence Offset 807 may indicate the node's offset in a PNsequence code. As explained above, the PN sequence code may be used tocontrol the duration of the transmit/receive cycles. The offset in thissequence may be received and stored by the nodes that are linked to thenode that is transmitting its PN Sequence Offset. Each receiving node,in turn, will then be able to determine when the transmitting node willbe in the receive mode and thus will be able to schedule itstransmissions to this node accordingly.

The same PN sequence code may also be used by the receiver in each nodeduring its de-spreading operation when spread spectrum technology isused. Each node may use the identical PN sequence code, but offset by aunique amount. The PN Sequence Offset 807 that is transmitted maysimilarly be used by the receiving nodes that are linked to thetransmitting node to communicate to them the offset that they must usewhen encoding information for that node.

Thus, the PN Sequence Offset 807 of a target node may be used by atransmitting node to both time and encode its transmission to the targetnode.

The Receive-to-Transmit Ratio 809 may be used to indicate the ratio oftransmission-to-reception time within a cycle. As explained in moredetail above, this ratio will further enable another node to determinewhen a target node will be in its receiving mode. As also explainedabove, this ratio may be fixed or may vary in accordance with network orother conditions.

The frame number 811 may indicate the current position of the nodewithin the pattern of transmission/reception cycle lengths that isdiscussed above. It may be synonymous with the cycle numbers (“C”) thatare illustrated in FIG. 6.

Other types of information 813 may also be included in the broadcastcontrol message 801. Variations on the specific fields that have beendiscussed above may also be made.

In addition to establishing a system of links, such as the primary andsecondary links shown in FIG. 3, the network may also includeappropriate systems for determining and updating the routes over whichinformation may be sent from one node to another, such as the routesshown by the dotted and solid lines in FIGS. 1 and by the solid lines inFIG. 2.

In many cases, an initiating node that wishes to communicate with adestination node may not have any links established with the destinationnode and may not know where the destination node is. This may beparticularly true when the destination node is a mobile node.

One approach for dealing with this may be for the initiating node toflood the network with a Destination Node Discovery message. Inconnection with the embodiments that have thus-far been described, theflooding may be initiated by the initiating node by sending theDestination Node Discovery message to each of the other nodes with whomthe initiating node has a primary link and also, in certain embodiments,a secondary link. The Destination Node Discovery message may ask eachlinked node whether it is aware of the destination node and, if not, toforward the message to its linked nodes. This process may repeat untilthe Destination Node Discovery message is received by the destinationnode or a node that is aware of it. Upon reaching such a node, the nodemay return identifying information.

The initiating node may include with each Destination Node Discoverymessage a time-to-live parameter. This parameter may be decremented byone each time it is forwarded by another node. Once the count reacheszero, the Destination Node Discovery message may no longer be forwarded.

Including a time-to-live parameter may minimize the degree to which anetwork is flooded by a Destination Node Discovery message. When used,the value of the time-to-live may be selected such that it is somewhatgreater than the anticipated number of hops that may be needed to reachthe destination node.

The Destination Node Discovery message may also include the ID of theinitiating node, along with a message identifying the destination node.This information may be used by each of the other nodes that receivethis message to distinguish it from other Destination Node Discoverymessages. Such information may enable each node to avoid forwardingduplicates of the same Destination Node Discovery message, even thoughthe same message may be received in duplicate from other nodes. This mayalso reduce the degree of flooding.

After a destination node is located, various different approaches may beused to actually establish a routing path.

One approach is location-based forwarding. With this approach, theinformation that is sent back may include the location of thedestination node. The initiating node may also know its location andthus be able to determine an appropriate routing direction. Theinitiating node may also keep track of the location of each of itslinked nodes. Based on all of this location information, the initiatingnode may then be able to identify the primary link that is most closelydirected to the destination node. The initiating node may then encodethe message for the node associated with this primary link and thentransmit the message.

The node associated with this primary link, in turn, may receive themessage and perform a similar analysis to determine the primary linkover which it, in turn, will forward the message. This “hopping” processmay continue until the message finally reaches the destination node. Areturn message may then be processed in the same manner.

As described above and illustrated in connection with FIG. 2, however,there may be situations in which a single node will initiate or forwardthe same message over more than a single primary link. Such an approachmay be used in cases in which there may be uncertainty over thesufficiency of the operation of a needed primary link. In thissituation, one or more redundant paths may be established in connectionwith at least portions of the routing, as shown in FIG. 2 and discussedabove.

As with the Destination Node Discovery message, information messages mayalso be packaged with a time-to-live parameter, thus insuring that amessage that is unable to reach its destination node does not endlesslytravel throughout the network. Once routing is established between theinitiating node and the destination node, the exact number of hops maybe known. This information can be used in selecting a judicioustime-to-live parameter. As the configuration of the routing changes, dueto the establishment of superior links or the removal of insufficientlinks, the expected hop count may be updated and, along with it, thetime-to-live parameter.

Similarly, and particularly in connection with destination nodes thatare moving, the location of the destination node may also be updatedand, along with it, the routing that is selected.

Another approach to routing is to use routing tables in each node. Inthis embodiment, the route that is followed by a Destination NodeDiscovery message between the initiating node and the Destination Nodemay be recorded and associated with a unique communication code that isassigned to the communication between the initiating node and thedestination node.

For example, the node 101 might initiate a Destination Node Discoverymessage for the node 103 in FIG. 1. It might include with theDestination Node Discovery message a unique code for the communicationthat is being established.

The Destination Node Discovery message may also include the node ID ofeach node that forwards the message. Thus, by the time the DestinationNode Discovery message reaches the destination node 103, the DestinationNode Discovery message may include the IDs of all of the nodes throughwhich it was forwarded, i.e., the nodes 101, 105, 107 and 109.

The destination node may then store all of the accumulated routinginformation that was received in its routing table. It may also respondto the Destination Node Discovery message by directing a message backover the series of links by which it came by including with the responsethe same history of links, along with the unique code of thecommunication.

Each node that receives the reply may then record in its routing tablethe node from which the reply came, the node to which the reply shouldbe forwarded, and the unique number that has been assigned to thecommunication.

The next time a node receives a communication bearing this uniquenumber, it may then consult its routing table to determine the link overwhich it should be forwarded.

Each node may also include appropriate systems for managing theirrouting tables. For example, each node may include a system that deletesentries in the routing table that have not been referenced for apre-determined amount of time. Each node may also include systems thatupdate the routing table based on changes in the network topology.

In some cases, a node may combine both location-based forwarding withrouting table information. For example, a node that is implementingforwarding with routing tables may run into a situation where itreceives a communication that is not listed in its routing table. Inthis situation, the node may forward the message using location-basedforwarding.

FIG. 9 illustrates a node that may be used in a network. As shown inFIG. 9, the node may include a transmitter 901, a receiver 903, anantenna 905, an encoder 907, a decoder 909, a routing table 911, acontroller 913, a searcher 915, a pilot generator 917, a PN generator919, a memory 921, a locator 923 and a user interface 925.

The transmitter 901 may transmit information received from thecontroller 913 to the antenna 905. The receiver 903 may receiveinformation from the antenna 905 and deliver it to the controller 913.The encoder 907 may encode information for transmission, again operatingunder the control of the controller 913. The encoder may use any of theencoding techniques discussed above, such as frequency encoding, phaseencoding, time encoding, address encoding or spread spectrum encoding.

Similarly, the decoder 909 may decode information received from thereceiver 903 under the control of the controller 913. As with theencoder, the decoder 909 may decode information based on frequency,phase, time, address or a spread spectrum code.

The routing table 911 may be used to store routing information and maybe used in those embodiments in which routing is accomplished inconnection with a routing table.

The pilot searcher 915 may be used in association with informationreceived by the receiver 903 under the control of the controller 913 tosearch received information for pilots.

The pilot generator 917 may be used to generate pilots that, under thecontrol of the controller 913, are transmitted by the transmitter 901.

The PN generator 919 may be used to generate one or more PN sequencecodes that, under the control of the controller, may be used by the nodeto spread information for other nodes, to de-spread information fromother nodes, to control the times during which the node transmits andreceives, and to determine the times during which a linked node isscheduled to receive information, all as explained above in more detail.

The locator 923 may determine the location of the node. It may include aGPS receiver. It may instead use magnetic location techniques ordetermine location based on one or more signals that are received by thenode. Other location techniques may also be used.

The user interface 925 facilitates communication between the node andthe user of the node. As discussed above in more detail in connectionwith FIG. 1, the user interface may include one or more input devices,such as a keyboard, mouse, touch screen, microphone, camera or acommunication link with another system. Similarly, the user interfacemay include one or more output devices, such as a display, loudspeaker,headset or a communication link with another system.

The memory 921 may be used by the controller and/or other components ofthe node to store information needed by the node, permanently and/ortemporarily, such as information from the user interface, informationfor the user interface, location information, PN codes, pilotinformation, routing information, encoding information and/or decodinginformation.

The node may include additional components and/or may not include all ofthe components discussed above in connection with FIG. 9. For example,one or more nodes on the network might not include a user interface andthus might not sink or source data, but merely act as forwarding nodesand/or provide other communication services to other nodes on thenetwork.

The node may also include power control systems to control the powerlevel of the signals that are transmitted. Such systems may be open loopand set the power level to a target node based on the strength of thesignal that is received from that node. Such systems may be closed loopand allow the power level of the node to be set by another node, such asa node that is receiving the signal from the node whose power level isbeing set. A combination of these approaches may also be used.

The randomized time division duplex feature that has been discussedabove may be used in conjunction with the encoding feature that has alsobeen discussed above or without it. Similarly, the encoding feature maybe used with or without the time division duplex feature.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits that havebeen described may be implemented or performed with a general purposeprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specificintegrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) orother programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic,discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed toperform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor maybe a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be anyconventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. Aprocessor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices,e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality ofmicroprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSPcore, or any other such configuration.

The methods or algorithms described in connection with the embodimentsdisclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a softwaremodule executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. Asoftware module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory,EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, aCD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. A storagemedium may be coupled to the processor such that the processor can readinformation from, and write information to, the storage medium. In thealternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. Theprocessor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC mayreside in the node, or elsewhere. In the alternative, the processor andthe storage medium may reside as discrete components in the node, orelsewhere in an access network.

The description of the disclosed embodiments is provided to enable anyperson skilled in the art to make or use the present invention. Variousmodifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to thoseskilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may beapplied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scopeof the invention. Thus, the scope of this application is not intended tobe limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded thewidest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosedherein.

1. A network node comprising: a wireless transmitter; a wirelessreceiver; a user interface; a controller configured to cause:information that is received by the receiver: to be delivered to theuser interface, if that information is encoded to be delivered to theuser interface of the network node; to be transmitted in a formatencoded for a first target node by the transmitter, if that informationis encoded to be forwarded by the network node; and information from theuser interface to be transmitted in a format encoded for a second targetnode by the transmitter.
 2. A process of operating a network nodecomprising: receiving information at the network node; delivering thereceived information to a user interface in the network node when theinformation is encoded to be delivered to the user interface of thenetwork node; transmitting the received information in a format encodedfor a first target node when the received information is encoded to beforwarded by the network node; and transmitting information from theuser interface in a format encoded for a second
 3. A network nodecomprising: a wireless transmitter a wireless receiver; a user interfacemeans for delivering information received by the receiver to the userinterface when the received information is encoded to be delivered tothe user interface; means for delivering the received information to thetransmitter in a format encoded for a first target node when thereceived information is encoded to be forwarded by the network node; andmeans for delivering information from the user interface to thetransmitter in a format encoded for a second target node.